Bubba Watson Overpowers Riviera

We all know Bubba Watson hits it a long way, but it was how he used that length to overpower Riviera this weekend that proved so impressive.

Though Watson’s scoring breakdown for the week was pretty balanced--Par-3s (-3), Par-4s (-4), Par-5s (-8)--ShotLink told a more complete story of Watson's ability to use his distance to separate himself.

Watson noted his accuracy for the week (35/56 fairways, 62.5%, T8), which combined with his field-leading 304 yard driving distance to overwhelm Riviera. Watson confirmed after the round that he hit a wedge into teh 18th, even with the hold having been lengthened to 480 yards and playing severely uphill. The fairways were firmer and faster, but even then this is a kikuyu course and there is only so much roll. (There was almost no helping wind.)

Check out these screengrabs of key drives which set up short approach shots, the most important coming at the 17th where a deadly fairway bunker had to be cleared. When Bubba drove it past that deep hazard, the tournament was in hand barring a strange mistake.